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The Q3 Lyst Index lands at an inflection point for fashion. The season reflects an unusual mix of moods, uncertainty for brands mid-transition, and clarity for those doubling down on what they do best. All but three brands in the table moved position this quarter, with the biggest swings coming from COS’s breakthrough into the top three, up four places since Q2, and Loewe sharply feeling the loss of Jonathan Anderson, moving down six spaces.

Amid creative reshuffles and collection recalibrations, one thing feels clear: the brands winning right now are those who know who they are.

Saint Laurent strides confidently into first position, for the first time. Where others rewrite their codes, Saint Laurent’s handwriting has only become sharper. The consistency of silhouette, slick sensuality, and unshakable confidence continues to cut through the noise. Searches for Le Loafer, Q3’s 2nd hottest product, rose an average of 66% month-on-month during the quarter. Priced at $1k, the shoe distills the Saint Laurent philosophy: refined, subtle, sophisticated.

Is ‘Quiet Luxury’ still sustaining demand? The data shows simplicity and restraint continue to resonate with consumers seeking understated pieces across price points. Moving up four positions, COS becomes the world’s third hottest brand, with a 147% increase in searches this quarter. The COS chunky cashmere sweater, last appearing in Q4 2024, returns as one of this quarter’s hottest items. The style encapsulates the brand’s appeal: architectural restraint, understated warmth, and tactile minimalism that feels grown-up without stiffness. Meanwhile, The Row moves up two spaces into fourth position, with demand up 28% this quarter. In Q2, its flip-flop defined a summer trend; this quarter, the Eel loafer dominates searches, sitting neatly in an aesthetic dialogue with Saint Laurent’s own.

Still in fifth position, demand for Coach on Lyst rose 29% this quarter, with strong social buzz supported by high profile sports ambassadors, product placements in The Devil Wears Prada 2 and partnership with The Summer I Turned Pretty. The Empire bag, this quarter’s tenth hottest product, helped anchor the brand’s summer success. Another American brand seeing digital, culture-led growth is Ralph Lauren, rising two places with a 6% quarterly increase in searches. Taylor Swift’s engagement announcement, in a striped Ralph Lauren dress (number nine in the hottest products) became an online flashpoint, blurring the line between celebrity endorsement and skillful brand storytelling.

147%

increase in searches for COS on Lyst this quarter

COS

STONE ISLAND

115%

increase in demand for Stone Island on Lyst this quarter

American brands are resonating outside of the Top 20 too. Madewell saw 34% growth this quarter, riding the wave of the mall-brand renaissance bringing brands like Gap and American Eagle back into the online conversation for younger shoppers. Brands are effectively capitalizing on moments of social media virality and tapping talent more relevant to Gen Z (such as Sydney Sweeney and Katseye), to reach these audiences in their digitally native context.

There’s movement in the middle of the pack. Burberry climbs four positions with a 14% lift in demand this quarter as Daniel Lee’s recalibration finds its audience. SKIMS continues its product-driven ascent, with demand now up 271% year-on-year. Viral launches like the Face Wrap sustained cultural dominance and led customers back to hero pieces like the Nipple Bra, which saw a 69% spike in searches this August, once again proving the brand’s ability to turn conversation into conversion. Stone Island re-enters The Index after four years outside the Top 20, with a strong 115% quarter-on-quarter rise in demand. A long-time pillar of casual subculture, the brand garnered mainstream attention this quarter, supported by the halo effect of Oasis’s reunion shows — evidence that identity, when deeply rooted, can transcend trend cycles.

Is Nike back? A 7% rise in demand on Lyst this quarter predicts a comeback may be on the cards. With two products in the hottest list (the Nike Shox and the Nike x Jacquemus Moon Shoe) the brand proves that a combination of design, nostalgia, and collaboration remains a winning formula. Under new CEO, Elliot Hill (appointed at the end of 2024), Nike has returned to its roots, pivoting back to performance and innovation to focus on athlete-led design and strategic partnerships, including the Nike Skims collaboration launched at the very end of the quarter.

Taken together, Q3’s results reveal a fashion landscape regaining balance after several volatile seasons. New creative leads are still settling, but those with a defined direction, like Saint Laurent, The Row, and COS, are proving that conviction is the key to clarity. It’s time for brands to be brave; the world’s hottest aren’t following the rhythm, they’re setting the tempo.

Nour Hammour

Nour Hammour

Known for sharply tailored leather outerwear, the Paris-based label blends Parisian polish with a subversive, biker-inspired edge.

worn by:

Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Hailee Steinfeld

Trending Product:

Hatti Jacket

+49%

QuARTER-ON-QUARTER RISE IN DEMAND

Nike

A global benchmark for performance and innovation, Nike fuses sport, culture, and design into generation-defining products.

Worn by:

Jacob Elordi, Jennifer Lawrence, Dakota Johnson, Kendrick Lamar

Trending Product:

Nike Jordan 4, White Cement

+7%

QuARTER-ON-QUARTER RISE IN DEMAND

NIKE SNKRS

MADEWELL

Madewell

A heritage American brand built on denim and ease, Madewell champions unfussy, timeless staples that balance comfort with quiet style.

WORN BY:

Dakota Fanning, Rachel Zegler, Jenna Ortega

Trending Product:

Transport Early Weekender Woven Tote

+34%

QuARTER-ON-QUARTER RISE IN DEMAND

Miu Miu slipped to second place, while Cos overtook The Row as the third most-searched brand on the shopping platform during the third quarter of 2025.

LONDON — Despite a 7 percent slip in revenue in the third quarter of 2025, Saint Laurent was able to claim the top spot in the latest Lyst hottest brands ranking for the first time, dethorning Miu Miu.

The rise in the Kering-owned brand’s popularity in the quarter was mainly driven by searches for loafers, micro bags and boots on the platform.

The brand’s spring 2026 show, which took place in Paris on Sept. 29, also likely fueled the brand’s popularity in the period. Front row guests including Hailey Bieber, Zoe Kravitz, Charli XCX, and Blackpink’s Rosé generated considerable buzz online.

With Miu Miu holding second place, H&M’s premium sister brand Cos climbed up four spots and overtook The Row as the third-most searched brand on the site with searches increasing 147 percent in the quarter. The Row saw a modest 28 percent gain in demand in the period.

Brands moving up the chart this quarter also included Bottega Veneta, Ralph Lauren, Versace, Burberry, Gucci, and Stone Island, while Loewe, Alaïa, Balenciaga, Prada, Chloé, and Jacquemus saw various degrees of decline in demand on the platform.

The top three brands moving fastest in the ranking were Nour Hammour, Nike and Madewell.

Lyst said there was a 49 percent uptake in demand this quarter for Nour Hammour’s refined and functional leather outerwear. Nike’s 7 percent rise in demand signaled a potential comeback under new chief executive office Elliot Hill, while Madewell’s 34 percent increase in demand has the mall-brand renaissance to thank, as shoppers are looking for slouchy shoulder bags, flats and jeans.

In terms of most searched fashion items in the quarter on Lyst, they were: Havaianas’ flip-flops, Le Loafer from Saint Laurent, chunky sweater from Cos, eel-skin loafers from The Row, pierced nipple push-up bra from Skims, slim symmetry pochette from Savette, moon shoe from the Nike x Jacquemus collaboration, Nike’s Shox TL sneakers, midi dress from Polo Ralph Lauren, and Coach’s soft Empire Carryall bag 48.

The activist is facing trouble at home and in the office, but he’s making new investments and is looking to swing at Larry Fink

Carl Icahn is working to revive Icahn Enterprises after a short-seller attack reduced its market value by billions and his net worth from over $17 billion to around $4.5 billion.

Icahn Enterprises’ third-quarter net income rose to $287 million from $22 million a year ago, with net asset value increasing by $567 million to $3.8 billion.

Icahn is focusing on a new initiative to remove voting power from index funds, believing it will restore activists’ ability to wage shareholder fights.

Activist investor Carl Icahn says nothing compares to the thrill of being immersed in a fight.

For the past few years, the 89-year-old billionaire has been playing defense on several fronts.

He is trying to revive the fortunes of Icahn Enterprises IEP 0.62%increase; green up pointing triangle, the publicly traded company that houses his investments, after a 2023 short-seller attack shaved billions off its market value and his own net worth. But a relationship with one member of the investing team recently turned contentious. And he feels it has become next to impossible for activists to wage the types of shareholder fights he loves and that have made him a fortune.

On the home front, as he nears his 90th birthday, he’s faced recent health scares and has separated from his wife of over 25 years, costing him a steady ally.

Icahn remains his combative self, publicly denying he’s concerned about any of it and focused on what he sees as momentum.

“I keep going,” he said in one of several interviews over the past month. “I enjoy the game.”

He describes the third-quarter earnings his firm is set to report Wednesday as some of its “best ever,” and he plans to unveil two new investments soon. He is obsessed with a pet project focused on removing voting power from index funds, which he believes could restore activists’ bite.

Shares in Icahn Enterprises, known by its ticker IEP, are down roughly 85% from before the short seller arrived. Hindenburg Research, now defunct, had alleged IEP was overvalued and vulnerable from its founder borrowing against its shares.

Forbes estimates that Icahn’s net worth is now closer to $4.5 billion, down from above $17 billion years a few years ago.

“They took part of my army away, like Alexander the Great,” Icahn said of the attack, which dented his capacity to make new investments. “He has to change his battle plans, but it’s not that bad.”

One of that team’s ideas, a big bet on Bausch Health, has lost the firm an estimated $760 million, according to data-provider Old Well Labs.

Of the three investors, one left last year and the firm’s relationship with another, Steven Miller, recently became contentious, according to people familiar with the matter.

The third, Andrew Teno, was named chief executive officer of IEP early last year and is seen as the most likely person to carry on the firm’s operations should the elder Icahn die.

Brett is expected to succeed his father as chairman and run the firm’s investment unit. He is rarely seen in IEP’s Miami-area office and devotes some of his time to personal investments. He is engaged to his longtime girlfriend with plans to elope.

The 46-year-old did have a hand in a recent home-run investment in EchoStar, the satellite-and-wireless company chaired by Charlie Ergen, according to people familiar with the matter. The bet made IEP over $250 million in one week earlier this year.

Icahn has separated from Gail, his second wife and former assistant, whom he married in 1999.

The two had disagreements over money and he voided parts of their prenuptial agreement, according to people familiar with the matter. They also had diverging lifestyles, with Gail preferring to socialize and travel and Icahn preferring to stay home and work.

Gail, 76, remains chairman of Icahn’s charter schools and the two still spend time together.

Icahn has been dealing with a string of health issues. Surgery to remove a skin issue near his ankle made it painful to walk for roughly a year and forced him to give up daily tennis.

Not long after the surgery, he was getting dressed to go to a party at real-estate investor Steven Roth’s Hamptons estate when he scraped the wound. Blood began rushing out, covering the floor.

“I sort of gave in and said, ‘This might be it for me,’” Icahn said. “I relaxed.”

It ended up to be a result of his blood-thinner medication and the issue quickly resolved.

Soon after, he was treated for an enlarged spleen. The initial dosage of medication made him short of breath, making it hard to work and talk on the phone at his normal pace. His doctors have since adjusted it. He says he never missed a day of work.

After spending the summer in the Hamptons, Icahn is wintering at his house on the Miami-area island known as Billionaire Bunker. His neighbors include Tom Brady and Jeff Bezos, though Icahn rarely socializes or goes to the island’s exclusive club.

Two male assistants take turns spending the night and fixing his evening martinis. He works many days from a patio table overlooking Miami’s Intracoastal Waterway. He has been reading Theodore Dreiser novels including “The Titan,” part of a trilogy about a ruthless businessman.

He bets on NFL games every week. On Sunday, he won around $80,000 with bets on the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks.

A new crusade

Icahn says he is devoting much of his energy to targeting index funds’ voting rights. He is finishing a white paper on the topic, with the help of ChatGPT queries run by staffers.

He rails against what he calls the “cartel” of BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, though is just as likely to shorthand them all by naming BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.

The way Icahn sees it, with index funds controlling around 30% of most companies’ voting rights, it has become impossible for activist investors to run proxy fights for control of corporate boards. He argues such fights are good for the overall economy, but rarely win support from the index funds.

BlackRock and its peers say they are giving some investors voting powers and otherwise carefully determine votes delegated to them to maximize investors’ financial interests. They also point to legal issues that currently prevent them from giving all investors the ability to vote their own shares.

Icahn wants either Congress to act or President Trump to issue an executive order. One proposal from Republican lawmakers would require shares held in passively managed funds to be voted on a proportional basis according to instructions from fund investors. Icahn has shied away from politics since he was accused of using a short-lived role in Trump’s first term to his advantage but plans to agitate on this issue.

Icahn is tending to his legacy elsewhere too. He recently put his New York City penthouse back on the market for $23 million after struggling to unload it since moving to Florida in 2018. He says the performance of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, funded with $200 million in 2012, makes it his best investment ever. And he is focusing on charities that prevent dogs from being euthanized.